Dusk After Dawn
by Himitsu-no-Paradise
Summary: The dawn has come, but darkness always returns... (SPOILERS for BvS; slight AU/Nolanverse mash-up)
_**Alright, kiddos, I just watched Batman v Superman and pretty much really liked it. It had its flaws, but it got my creative juices flowing (for something other than an Avengers crossover, ha!). So, here we go...**_

 _ **But first, we need to cover a few things: This will be based on the Batman v Superman plot, however, it will tie loosely back into the Nolanverse Batman movies, with me hoping you all can suspend disbelief enough to substitute some of the characters from the Nolanverse for their new DCEU counterparts (such as Batman (Batfleck) himself, Joker and Alfred) while many of the Nolanverse characters will remain the same (like Catwoman and "Robin")**_

 _ **Secondly, this will be a slight AU of the plot of Batman v Superman, with most of the major plot points staying the same, but with the addition of characters from the Nolanverse (and somewhat the comics) that will change a few things slightly.**_

 _ **So, without further ado...**_

* * *

Dusk After Dawn

* * *

 **Florence, Italy – 18 Years Ago**

* * *

 _Briuce Wayne was happy. For the first time since he'd begun his crazy, vigilante life, he was genuinely happy. In the past, when he'd lie awake at night, he'd think of the terror on the streets of Gotham and how much he still had to do to clean up the city his parents had once so loved._

 _But after the incident with Bane, and the hope that someone else might keep his city safe in his absence, he had resigned himself to try to have the life Alfred had so desperately wanted him to have—the quiet life, where he didn't wake with terror or anger in his heart._

 _Instead, he woke genuinely and incandescently happy next to a woman he could honestly say he loved. Loved like his father loved his mother—he could only hope, anyway._

" _Selina," he whispered, pushing her dark chocolate tresses from her forehead, a hand sliding over her swollen stomach. He smiled and kissed the half-circle of life that rested upon his wife's body, burying his nose in her skin._

" _You'll wake her like you woke me," Selina said, eyes cracking open with a smirk as she began to brush her slim fingers through his black hair._

 _Bruce chuckled, running calloused digits over the smooth skin of her pregnant belly. "Why are you so sure it's a girl?"_

" _I'm a cat, darling. I've got insticts—it's a girl." She smiled, sliding her eyes down to her stomach. "Helena Martha Wayne. What—you don't think?" She raised an eyebrow at him, smirking._

 _Bruce turned onto his back, staring out the window in front of their bed, at the moon just outside, dwelling, for a moment, on how lucky he was. The world believed he was dead—he was okay with that. He had a good life, living in a European country with his beloved, with a baby on the way. A baby girl._

" _No," he said, his head twisting to look at her with a smile. "I do. You're always right, after all."_

 _Selina's laugh, like a sultry bell, rang through their darkened bedroom, and she nodded. "You've learned."_

" _I have," he replied. "Lets hope Helena learns too—to be just like her mother."_

 _...Selina went into labor that night, among their laughing, and kissing and talking. And she_ was _right._

* * *

 **Florence, Italy – Fourteen years ago**

* * *

 _Helena was four when Bruce got the call from Dick (known as John Blake to Bruce when he was active in Gotham. It wasn't until after his friend had taken up a cowl of his own that he'd revealed his real name and the various reasons for the name change after he'd left the orphanage)._

 _He was moving to Bludhaven to take up his own vigilantism there. Which meant the mediator that kept Gotham in line was leaving. Bruce understood why. Bludhaven was called Gotham's sister city, and it really was in so many ways._

 _But that meant the Bat would have to return. Gotham couldn't be trusted to stay safe on its own._

 _Packing up his family and taking them back to the fluctuating safety of that city would be hard. Reintroducing himself to that world would be harder._

* * *

 **Wayne Building – Metropolis – Eight Years Ago**

* * *

 _Bruce watched Zodd and the Superman as they fell through the sky. He had just witnessed their indestructible alien bodies pierce through his building like a bullet through flesh, and his eyes widened with terror and anguish as the tower began to crumble. He was running now. Running through the streets, toward the rubble cloud, as terrified residents rushed away._

 _He was looking. Looking for someone. He helped a pinned employee, and continued to search._

 _But she wasn't there._

 _Selina._

 _She had been in the building acting as an ambassador for him while he worked at the main hub in Gotham. But as soon as he'd heard of the attack on the city from those known as the Kryptonians, his response had been immediate._

 _But as he stood in the rubble, searching, he found his beloved wife was no where to be found._

 _As his eyes scanned the area, he noticed a girl, just beneath a piece of falling building, and with a swiftness of adrenaline, he raced forward, catching her in his arms and pulling her to safety. He asked her where her mother was. She pointed._

 _He looked up, saw the smoldering remains of the half-fallen building, and his eyes hardened._

 _Days later, they found her. Selina. His beloved wife. His whole world. Gone._

 _ **Dead**_ _._

 _That summer, he brought Helena on an African safari like she'd always begged him to—she'd always wanted to see the lioness'. After that, he sent her to boarding school._

 _He didn't want her to hate him completely, but she looked so like her mother—and he knew what he would do next._

 _He had to find the Superman._

* * *

 **Six Years Ago**

* * *

 _Superman. Clark Kent._

 _Lex Luthor._

 _Lois Lane_

 _Diane Prince. Wonder Woman._

 _The Metahumans on the Lexcorp files._

 _So many names. So many lives. Bruce had gotten so caught up in so much rage, anger, hatred for what had happened in Metropolis, he hadn't stopped to think about the names. The faces. The lives. The families._

 _But as he hung over Superman, over Clark Kent, with that spear made of Krypton, he heard the alien choke out one name._

 _ **Martha**_ _._

 _His mother's name. His daughter's name. A name he had heard Selina say a hundred times to remind him that he was Bruce before Batman. A name he'd heard her shout behind 'Helena' when their daughter was in for a scolding. A name that held so much meaning in his heart, in his life._

" _Why did you say that name?!" he shouted. He doubted he was really willing to listen. Over, and over, he screamed the words, growled them as if that would make the situation more comprehensible._

 _It wasn't until Lois Lane that he understood._

" _That's his mother's name!"_

 _It was in that moment he realized what Clark Kent's world looked like. It was Martha Kent._

 _It was Lois Lane._

 _And his was Selina Kyle-Wayne. A wife. A mother._

 _Like Clark's Lois. Like Clark's Martha._

 _No more death would be on his hands._

 _Except Clark Kent's._

 _Lex Luthor lost—but Lex Luthor also won. For two years, Bruce Wayne had imagined the Superman to be a monster. But he_ was _a man—and he was the hero everyone believed him to be._

 _Clark Kent had a world all his own with Lois Lane—a world worth smiling about. But Superman had a duty that mattered more than Clark Kent's world—and would ultimately save it, as well. A duty he was willing to stake his life for._

 _And lose his life for. Superman prevailed. Lex Luthor failed—his Doomsday beaten._

 _But the dead never stay dead for long. Especially Clark Kent. Especially Superman._

 _Diana Prince approached Bruce, a few days later, at the memorial for the monster who proved himself a man. Diana Prince, who had proven herself a worthy compatriot, and friend. Diana Prince, a beautiful woman, who he would have pursued, perhaps, years ago. But with only two years of mourning in his heart, he could not relinquish Selina enough yet to see anyone else._

 _Still, he respected her. She had bested him a few times since the day they'd met at Luthor's party. He knew she was an ally worth having._

" _We have to find the others. The others like you." She was Wonder Woman, after all. Stronger, more intuitive, more diligent and trained than he'd ever have imagined when he'd first followed her through Lexcorp's stairways._

 _The names. The lives. The families. He was certain the men in those files had them too. Just like Diana. Just like Clark._

" _We'll have to stand together to fight."_

 _Diana stood next to him, a regal grace about her stance, before glancing at him with her chiseled, elegant features. "What makes you say they'll have to fight?"_

" _A feeling I have."_

 _And as they departed, the Earth shook beneath the gravestones._

 _Bruce would not be wrong._

 _But he would also not be along._

* * *

 _ **To be clear, this story will be set about six years after the events of Batman v Superman. Here's the prologue—maybe it's a little rushed but I just wanted to give some background! Thanks for reading!  
**_

* * *

" _Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." Proverbs 31:30_


End file.
